In February 2025, Palas Cinema in Galway will be closing down due to financial losses. Palas has been in operation for over six years after opening in 2018 and has been the only independent, art house cinema in Galway. It’s loss will be devastating for the local film community. Palas was home to film societies, smaller films that would never get a release in a mainstream chain cinema like IMC and served as an integral venue for the Galway Film Fleadh. 

Once it ceases operations the building will fall into the hands of Galway City Council. We Galway Cinephiles desperately hope that the building, which is build specifically to be a cinema, will be maintained for that original purpose. With its unique layout the building cannot function for any other purposes without major work being done.

A decision will be made in the coming months between the local council and stakeholders in the cinemas parent company Element Pictures as to what to do. We demand that Galway City Council along with the Arts Council do all they can to insure that Palas remains a cinema even if it changes name under new ownership. Its loss would leave a void in the local community impossible to fill and do irreparable damage to Galway’s reputation as a cinema of film. We hope to get as many signatures as possible to show the Council and stakeholders at Element Pictures just how much Palas means to us in Galway and how much we don’t want to loss this invaluable cornerstone of Galway’s film community and industry.